Reason No. 421,964 to wear a helmet

(Are you listening, Judi?)

I can't afford a new train ticket, so I'm back to riding my bike to/from work.  Now that school's back in session and everyone's home from vacation, there are even more wackos out on the road. More cabs with non-functioning blinkers, more trucks making deliveries and parking wherever they damned well please, more of the no. 77 bus, more Berklee School of Music kids stepping out into the street without looking, more drivers talking on cell phones swinging in and out of the bike lane, more insecure drivers hugging the right side of the road, more everything.  

But this morning was bad.  I won't even try to figure out why a lawnmower was driving down Mass Ave at rush hour.  I don't even pretend to know what divine power gave him the right

 of way to run a light and cut me off.  That was weird, but that wasn't the most frustrating part of my ride.  No, the most frustrating part was when, 3 blocks from my office a school

 bus mysteriously stopped (without signaling).  Was there a light up there?  I couldn't see what was going on ahead of the school bus, so I went to the left of it to go around.  Next to the school bus was another semi, so it was a tight spot.  I'm rolling on through the 2-foot channel be

tween the two giant vehicles, hearing the screams of little children inside the bus, when suddenly, about 10 feet in front of me I see the little stop sign that sticks out when the bus's doors are open

 start to swing out.  A second later, now about 5 feet away and too late to stop, I realize that the stop sign is right at face level.  I ducked my head.  The stop sign grazed the top of my helmet, and then I heard a THUNK as my backpack smacked right into it.

Also, I would like to address Fellow Chick Biker's comment on my last post.  She said,

"yeah, yeah, you are so talented, blah. enter a real road race and we'll see if you can hang."

First off, that is just exactly the opposite of what I was saying in my last post.  If she'd actually read the whole post, maybe she would have seen that.  I know I tend to go on a bit (these race reports are more of a scrapbook for me than for anyone else), but if you're going to say something that confrontational to someone, I believe you should find out if they've at least addressed the topic in the post that you're commenting on.  Then again, maybe she can't read. What I was saying was that I haven't competed in a real road race, and it isn't fair for me to think much of myself because I don't know what the riding is like in a real road race, and I don't know if I could hang.  Other people are telling me I'm good, but I've learned the hard way to never underestimate the competition till you've toed the line.

Still, in my defense, I am not a triathon-only rider.  I have a fair amount of experience riding with serious road riders.  What Fellow Chick Biker does not know, and would have found out if she'd taken the time to ask is that I rode in Europe for over a year, WITH a club, and in several races.  I won a climbing preme in one of those races. I was the first chick overall up that hill.  The rides I did were not super competitive, but still, I have seen the inside of a peloton in my day. Another thing that Fellow Chick Biker would not know unless she had asked is that I still ride with road riders.  There is a competitive group that leaves from the local bike shop on Saturday mornings.  I don't know what category they are, but they are active racers and strong riders. There is a "deliberate" group, a medium group, and a "fast" group.  I go with the faster guys. And I can hang with them.  I'm one of the few chicks who ever has been able to ride with the fast group on the Saturday morning rides.  So, Fellow Chick Biker, you're right.  I have never entered a real road race, and I don't know if I can hang, but I never said that I could.  I never said I was the next Lance Armstrong, or even the next Kristen Armstrong.  If I ever say I'm a strong cyclist, it is only in comparison to my swimming and running.  Maybe you're faster, maybe a lot of people are faster.  That's fine, whatever, I don't care.  I just enjoy riding my bike.  I'm not the one saying that I'm going to take the cycling world by storm when I get into cycling seriously next summer.  I'm just going to ride my bike hard and let the cards fall where they may.  

And as Grouchy Co-worker Caitlin says, "Haters, go fist yourselves."